By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

A report in the The Hill newspaper says that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's potential 2012 presidential bid has attracted folks who signed up with Sen. John McCain's campaign in 2008.

From the piece:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) has enlisted a number of GOP strategists from John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, another sign that he's planning a run for president in 2012.

...

Among those interested in getting to know Pawlenty are Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Randy Scheunemann, two top policy advisers from the McCain presidential campaign who have joined the Minnesota governor's host committee.

A writer over at The American Conservative doesn't seem so crazy about the sign-ups.

In a post titled "Son of McCain," the blogger writes: "If you are interested in angry Russophobia and needless provocation of other major powers, Pawlenty might well be the candidate for you. What might be more interesting is whether or not Republican activists and primary voters will recoil from a campaign filled with top McCain staffers."

Over at Human Events, a writer expresses some different doubts about Pawlenty's bona fides. The governor is talking the talk on conservative issues, the piece says, but may not have walked enough of the walk in his governing:

If people around the country wonder why a lot of "movement" conservatives outside Minnesota have not yet attached themselves to the Pawlenty campaign, it could be because Pawlenty's roots and record don't point to him being a leader for conservatives, something that talk-show host Jason Lewis conveyed quite effectively last year in a piece for the Wall Street Journal.

Tim Pawlenty spent his formative years in politics working for moderate former U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger and as a nondescript suburban city official. While in the Minnesota House, he compiled a slightly-above-average voting record and a knack for using quotable sound bites to point out the biggest excesses of the liberal Democrat-Farmer-Labor party. During his first term as Governor, he didn't challenge the liberal establishment much except on tax-burden issues and for the signing of pro-life initiatives. Instead, he often cooperated to enact establishment-driven initiatives such as huge bonding bills, big stadium subsidies, light-rail and commuter-rail subsidies, environmentalist mandates, and a minimum-wage hike.

UPDATE:

Alex Conant, spokesman for Pawlenty's political efforts, responded to this post by saying:"Gov. Pawlenty is attracting the help of a broad spectrum of conservatives. A lot of Republicans are drawn to his record of conservative leadership in a liberal leaning state like Minnesota."